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Introduction

Although I was born some years after World War Two I can remember several of my older family members telling me a little about one of their friends who died while serving with the British Army in Burma. The friend was called Stanley Carruthers. Like my father’s family, Stanley came from the small village of Scilly Banks, near Moresby Parks in what was then the county of Cumberland (now Cumbria).

Scilly Banks and the Moresby district are in the west of Cumbria, situated between the towns of Whitehaven and Workington. Stanley and his brothers and sisters were about the same age as my father Joe Ritson and his two brothers Tom and Ronald. The homes where they grew up were just across the road from each other.

When I was young and visiting Scilly Banks with my father I can often recall him mentioning village life when he was growing up and about his friend Stanley who died in the war. This article concentrates on a few facts about Stanley and his family during the war years.

This account has been written from various sources of information including other members of my family, cuttings from newspapers, my own personal memories and personal research. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Mrs Irene Pitt (née Abernethy) and Mrs Betty Donnan (née Carruthers), two residents of Scilly Banks during World War Two. Both Irene and Betty have helped supply me with information and have kindly agreed I can use it to write this article. I would like to thank them for their assistance. The terms of the "People's War" website have been read and understood.

The Carruthers family of Round Close Farm

At the outbreak of World War Two the Carruthers family lived at Round Close Farm, Scilly Banks. There was a public footpath next to the farm that led to the neighbouring village of Moresby Parks. My father and his two brothers, Tom and Ronald used to take this footpath to walk to where they worked at Walkmill Colliery, Moresby Parks. Stanley Carruthers worked for one of his uncles at the Argyle Garage in another nearby village called Gosforth, approximately ten miles further south.

This is what Stanley's sister Betty Donnan (née Carruthers) recently told me about her family at Scilly Banks during World War Two:

"My father farmed at Round Close Farm, Scilly Banks. His name was John Joseph but everyone called him J.J. My mother's name was Sarah. There were seven of us in the family. The eldest was my sister Mamie. The eldest boy was known as Ally, but his real name was John Allison. The next oldest was my brother Colin, and then there was Stanley, Herbert and Gilbert. I was the youngest and I was always known as Betty although my full name is Elizabeth.

My Dad was one of a family of eleven children. He had nine sisters but the other brother died when he was very young so J.J. was really the only boy in a family of ten. Before he went in the army Stanley worked for our uncle Gordon Farries at Gosforth. Gordon was married to one of my Dad's sisters. Unfortunately Gordon Farries was killed in a motorbike accident. I'm not exactly sure when the accident was, but I think it was early in the war.

Stanley and Colin went into the army. Colin went to Normandy and Stanley was sent to Burma. Stanley had been in the army a few years when we were told he’d been killed. I remember it happened at the end of May 1944. After Colin came back from the army he lived at another farm at Tivoli, then he moved back to Round Close for a while and then Settra Park, Penrith. Herbert went to Clifton near Workington. Round Close Farm was knocked down some years ago and then some new houses built".

POW working on the farm

During the latter half of World War Two a German Prisoner of War from Moota P.O.W. Camp near Cockermouth was sent to work at Round Close Farm. My father and other relatives have told me this German P.O.W. was a pleasant fellow and got on very well with everyone in the village. In fact he used to play football with the village lads and the guards from Moota camp, using the rifles as goalposts. Betty and Irene also remember how the young German P.O.W. got on well with everyone, did some valuable work on the farm and even socialised to some extent with the villagers.

Betty kindly told me what she remembered about the German P.O.W. who worked at her father's farm:

"The German who worked at our farm in the war was a real nice lad. He got on well with everybody. I remember his name was Josh but I don't know his surname. To start with he used to get dropped off each day but eventually he got billeted at the farm, so everybody got to know him quite well.

While he was billeted with us, all the lads in the village took him to the pictures. They dressed him up in civilian clothes and then they told him not to speak. That way no one would know he was German and there would be no problem with anyone else. I'm not sure if he understood what was said at the pictures he saw but at least he had a night out!

Some time after the war Josh had to leave the farm and go back to Moota to get repatriated. I don't know where he went after that. There were families from Scilly Banks and Moresby who had people killed or were made Prisoners of War. Josh got on well with all those families as well as anyone else".

I would like to state that Irene also confirms that Josh was taken to the cinema with other lads from Scilly Banks and Moresby. This must have been towards the end of the war, or just after the war had officially ended, and before the German prisoners had been repatriated.

3605551 Private Stanley Carruthers

Unfortunately I don't have access to Stanley's service record. However, I understand that he originally signed up to the army in 1940 or 1941. Although I have no definite proof about which Battalion Stanley first went to when he signed up, it may have been the 9th Battalion Border Regiment. From what I have read, this was originally a 'holding Battalion" drawing for a large part on West Cumbrian recruits. This Battalion was later sent out to the Far East (India and Burma).

At some point, Stanley must have transferred to the 1st Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales' Own). From what I have read I believe the 9th Border Regiment and 1st West Yorkshire Regiment were involved in fighting in the same area during the early part of 1944.

I am not exactly sure when Stanley was transferred from the Border Regiment to the West Yorkshire Regiment but I believe it was probably only a short time before he was killed. A contemporary report about Stanley being killed in action in the local West Cumbrian newspaper, ‘The Whitehaven News’, still says that he was attached to the Border Regiment (see below).

Stanley was killed in action in Burma at the end of May 1944. His sister Betty remembers the date was 28 May 1944. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, the date of death listed for Stanley is 30 May 1944. From research I have done about other casualties I have occasionally found slight discrepancies on the given CWGC information, although in almost all instances it is totally accurate. There will always be a valid reason for any possible discrepancy.

Unfortunately, Stanley's actual grave is not maintained by the CWGC. His final resting place is unknown. Thus, along with about 27000 other men of the Commonwealth, Stanley's name is commemorated on the 'Rangoon Memorial' in Taukkan War Cemetery, Rangoon (now Yangon).

According to the Commission, because of post-war civil unrest in the country the Army Graves Service was unable to locate and maintain many of the graves, including that of Stanley Carruthers. Hence, the Commission have commemorated their names on the Rangoon Memorial. I would also like to pay tribute to the CWGC for maintaining the commemorations to those who have died in war, even when it has been difficult to do so.

Additional information

In researching this article I have checked Stanley’s Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. I also visited the Cumbria County Archives Office, where I consulted the copy of ‘The Whitehaven News’ that reported Stanley’s death. This information is included here:

(a) Commonwealth War Graves Commission citation:

"In Memory of
Private STANLEY CARRUTHERS

3605551, 1st Bn., West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own)
who died age 23
on 30 May 1944
Son of John Joseph and Sarah Carruthers, of Moresby, Cumberland.
Remembered with honour
RANGOON MEMORIAL.
Commemorated in perpetuity by
the Commonwealth War Graves Commission"
[Stanley's name can be found on Face 7 of the Rangoon Memorial]

(b) Extract from "The Whitehaven News", Thursday 29 June 1944 (page 3):

"Killed in Action in Burma
Word has been received by Mr and Mrs J.J. Carruthers, Round Close Farm, Moresby, that their third son, Pte. Stanley Carruthers, Border Regiment, has been killed in action in Burma. Aged 23, Pte. Carruthers joined the Army about three years ago. Before joining up he was employed by his uncle, the late Mr G. Farries, of Gosforth, and Mr G. Bell, Argyle Garage. Another son, Dvr. C. Carruthers is serving in Normandy."
[Extract included with permission of 'The Whitehaven News']

Conclusion

I would like to dedicate this article to the memory of the villagers of Scilly Banks and in particular to that of Stanley Carruthers. It has been a great pleasure to listen to Irene and Betty talking about Stanley, Colin, Josh and other people they knew from the World War Two years. Although Stanley has no known grave his sacrifice is still remembered. I hope this article goes some way to achieving this.

Stanley's brother Colin Carruthers took part in the Normandy Landings. Just before D-Day, Colin had a chance meeting with my uncle Ronald Ritson before they both embarked on the Normandy Landings. The ‘Whitehaven News’ article refers to Colin as a ‘Driver’ (Dvr).

The section about Josh the German P.O.W. has been included partly because it is a happy memory of village life in Scilly Banks from the war. Even when so many men and boys went from the village to take part in the war, they welcomed a young German P.O.W. Unfortunately we do not know if Josh ever wrote an account of his time as a P.O.W. especially what he thought of his nights out at the cinemas of Whitehaven!

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